A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts.
www.catholicnewsagency.com
-
A new poll shows that a pro-life amendment on the ballot in Kansas is enjoying a narrow lead. The August 2 referendum represents the first major statewide vote on abortion following the overturning of Roe v Wade. The survey, conducted by co/efficient and shared by FiveThirtyEight, found that 47% of likely primary voters in Kansas say they plan to vote for the pro-life amendment, 43% say they plan to vote against it, and 10% are undecided.
The amendment needs a simple majority of 51% to pass. The amendment would reverse the Kansas Supreme Court’s 2019 ruling that the state’s constitution protects a woman’s “right” to abortion.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251838/first-statewide-abortion-vote-after-roe-is-leaning-pro-life-kansas-poll-shows
The US House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill on Tuesday that would federally recognize same-sex marriage, and provide legal protections for interracial marriages. The bill would bar a state “from denying out-of-state marriage licenses and benefits on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.” The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law signed by President Bill Clinton which defined marriage federally as the union of a man and a woman, and permitted states not to recognize same-sex marriages from contracted in other states. The vote comes after the Supreme Court’s June decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade, and ahead of the November midterm elections.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251833/us-house-passes-same-sex-marriage-bill
Actor Russell Crowe will star as the late Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s former chief exorcist, in an upcoming movie, “The Pope’s Exorcist.” Amorth performed an estimated 100,000 exorcisms up until the time of his death at age 91 in 2016. He was perhaps the world’s best-known exorcist as the author of a number of books, including “An Exorcist Tells His Story,” which inspired the upcoming movie. He was also frequently in the news for his comments on the subject of demonic forces. Amorth often spoke about the growing need for exorcists in a world that lacks faith in God.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251834/russell-crowe-to-star-as-the-vaticans-chief-exorcist-in-new-film
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, a Doctor of the Church. In 1596, he was commissioned by the Pope to work for the conversion of the Jewish people and to combat the spread of Protestantism. He was a great preacher and refused a second term as minister general of his order, the Capuchin Franciscans, in favor of preaching.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-lawrence-of-brindisi-543